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nvidia-xconfig

NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

nvidia-xconfig
is a tool intended to provide basic control over configuration options available in the NVIDIA X driver.

nvidia-xconfig
performs its operations in several steps:

1)

The system X configuration file is found and read into memory.
If no configuration file can be found,
nvidia-xconfig
generates one from scratch using default settings; in this case,
nvidia-xconfig
will automatically determine the name of the X
configuration file to create:
/etc/X11/xorg.conf
if the X server
in use is X.org or
/etc/X11/XF86Config
if the X server in use is XFree86.

2)

The configuration in memory is modified to support the NVIDIA driver.
This consists of changing the display driver to "nvidia", removing the commands to load the "GLcore" and "dri" modules, and adding the command to load the "glx" module.

3)

The configuration in memory is modified according to the options specified on the command line.
Please see the NVIDIA README for a description of the NVIDIA X configuration file options.
Note that
nvidia-xconfig
does not perform any validation of the X configuration file options requested on the command line;
X configuration file option validation is left for the NVIDIA X driver.

4)

The configuration is written back to the file from which it was read.
A backup of the original configuration is created with ".backup" appended.
For example, if your X configuration is
/etc/X11/xorg.conf
then
nvidia-xconfig
will copy it to
/etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup
before writing the new configuration.
The
--post-tree (-T)
option can be used to print the new configuration to standard out in tree form instead. This option is useful to see what
nvidia-xconfig
will do while leaving the original configuration intact.

OPTIONS

-c XCONFIG, --xconfig=XCONFIG

Use
XCONFIG
as the input X config file; if this option is not specified, then the same search path used by the X server will be used to find the X configuration file.

-o OUTPUT-XCONFIG, --output-xconfig=OUTPUT-XCONFIG

Use
OUTPUT-XCONFIG
as the output X configuration file; if this option is not specified, then the input X configuration filename will also be used as the output X configuration filename.

-s, --silent

Run silently; no messages will be printed to stdout, except for warning and error messages to stderr.

-t, --tree

Read the X configuration file, print to stdout the X configuration data in a tree , and exit.

-v, --version

Print the nvidia-xconfig version and exit.

-h, --help

Print usage information for the common commandline options and exit.

-A, --advanced-help

Print usage information for the common commandline options as well as the advanced options, and then exit.

ADVANCED OPTIONS

--add-argb-glx-visuals, --no-add-argb-glx-visuals

Enables or disables support for OpenGL rendering into 32-bit ARGB windows and pixmaps.

--allow-ddcci, --no-allow-ddcci

Enables or disables DDC/CI support in the NV-CONTROL X extension.

--allow-dfp-stereo, --no-allow-dfp-stereo

Enable or disable the "AllowDFPStereo" X configuration option.

--allow-glx-with-composite, --no-allow-glx-with-composite

Enable or disable the "AllowGLXWithComposite" X configuration option.

--bandwidth-test, --no-bandwidth-test

Disable or enable the "NoBandWidthTest" X configuration option.

--cool-bits=COOL-BITS, --no-cool-bits

Enable or disable the "Coolbits" X configuration option. Setting this option will enable support in the NV-CONTROL X extension for manipulating GPU clock settings. Default value is 0.
WARNING: this may cause system damage and void warranties.

--composite, --no-composite

Enable or disable the "Composite" X extension.

--constant-dpi, --no-constant-dpi

Enable or disable the "ConstantDPI" X configuration option, which controls whether the NVIDIA X driver maintains a constant dots per inch (DPI) value by recomputing the reported size in millimeters of the X screen when XRandR changes the size in pixels of the X screen.

--custom-edid=CUSTOM-EDID, --no-custom-edid

Enable or disable the "CustomEDID" X configuration option; setting this option forces the X driver to use the EDID specified.This option is a semicolon-separated list of pairs of display device names and filename pairs; e.g "CRT-0: mp\did.bin". Note that a display device name must always be specified even if only one EDID is specified.

--dac-8bit, --no-dac-8bit

Most Quadro parts by default use a 10 bit color look up table (LUT) by default; setting this option to TRUE forces these graphics chips to use an 8 bit (LUT).

-d DEPTH, --depth=DEPTH

Set the default depth to
DEPTH
; valid values for
DEPTH
are 8, 15, 16 and 24.

Use OS-level events to notify the X server when a direct-rendering client has performed rendering that needs to be composited to the screen. Improves performance when using GLX with the composite extension.

--dynamic-twinview, --no-dynamic-twinview

Enable or disable support for dynamically configuring TwinView.

-a, --enable-all-gpus

Configure an X screen on every GPU in the system.

--exact-mode-timings-dvi, --no-exact-mode-timings-dvi

Forces the initialization of the X server with the exact timings specified in the ModeLine.

-E FILE, --extract-edids-from-file=FILE

Extract any raw EDID byte blocks contained in the specified X log file
LOG
; raw EDID bytes are printed by the NVIDIA X driver to the X log as hexidecimal when verbose logging is enabled with the "-logverbose 6" X server commandline option. Any extracted EDIDs are then written as binary data to individual files. These files can later be used by the NVIDIA X driver through the "CustomEDID" X configuration option.

--extract-edids-output-file=FILENAME

When the '--extract-edids-from-log' option is used, nvidia-xconfig writes any extracted EDID to a file, typically "edid.bin" in the current directory. Use this option to specify an alternate filename. Note that nvidia-xconfig, if necessary, will append a unique number to the EDID filename, to avoid overwriting existing files (e.g., "edid.bin.1" if "edid.bin" already exists).

--flip, --no-flip

Enable or disable OpenGL flipping

--force-generate

Force generation of a new X config file, ignoring any existing system X config file. This is not typically recommended, as things like the mouse protocol, keyboard layout, font paths, etc, are setup by your Unix distribution. While nvidia-xconfig can attempt to infer these values, it is best to use your Unix distribution's X config file for the basis of anything that nvidia-xconfig creates.

--force-stereo-flipping, --no-force-stereo-flipping

Normally, stereo flipping is only performed when a stereo drawable is visible. This option forces stereo flipping even when no stereo drawables are visible.

When generating a new X configuration file (which happens when no system X configuration file can be found, or the '--force-generate' option is specified), use
KEYBOARD
as the keyboard type, rather than attempting to probe the system for the keyboard type. For a list of possible keyboard types, see the '--keyboard-list' option.

--keyboard-driver=DRIVER

In most cases nvidia-xconfig can automatically determine the correct keyboard driver to use (either 'kbd' or 'keyboard'). Use this option to override what nvidia-xconfig detects. Typically, if you are using an X.Org X server, use 'kdb'; if you are using an XFree86 X server, use 'keyboard'.

--keyboard-list

Print to stdout the available keyboard types recognized by the '--keyboard' option, and then exit.

--layout=LAYOUT

The nvidia-xconfig utility operates on a Server Layout within the X configuration file. If this option is specified, the layout named
LAYOUT
in the X configuration file will be used. If this option is not specified, the first Server Layout in the X configuration file is used.

Set the path to the PNG file to be used as the logo splash screen at X server startup.

--mode=MODE

Add the specified mode to the mode list.

--remove-mode=MODE

Remove the specified mode from the mode list.

--mouse=MOUSE

When generating a new X configuration file (which happens when no system X configuration file can be found, or the '--force-generate' option is specified), use
MOUSE
as the mouse type, rather than attempting to probe the system for the mouse type. For a list of possible mouse types, see the '--mouse-list' option.

--mouse-list

Print to stdout the available mouse types recognized by the '--mouse' option, and then exit.

The nvidia-cfg library is used to communicate with the NVIDIA kernel module to query basic properties of every GPU in the system. This library is typically only used by nvidia-xconfig when configuring multiple X screens. This option tells nvidia-xconfig where to look for this library (in case it cannot find it on its own). This option should normally not be needed.

--only-one-x-screen

--overlay, --no-overlay

Enable or disable the "Overlay" X configuration option.

--cioverlay, --no-cioverlay

Enable or disable the color index overlay.

--overlay-default-visual, --no-overlay-default-visual

Enable or disable the "OverlayDefaultVisual" X configuration option.

--transparent-index=INDEX, --no-transparent-index

Pixel to use as transparent when using color index overlays. Valid values for
TRANSPARENT-INDEX
are 0-255.

-T, --post-tree

Like the '--tree' option, but goes through the full process of applying any user requested updates to the X configuration, before printing the final configuration to stdout in a tree . Effectively, this option just causes the configuration to be printed to stdout as a tree instead of writing the results to file.

The nvidia-xconfig utility operates on one or more screens within a Server Layout in the X configuration file. If this option is specified, the screen named
SCREEN
in the X configuration file will be used. If this option is not specified, all screens within the selected Server Layout in the X configuration file will be used used.

--separate-x-screens, --no-separate-x-screens

A GPU that supports multiple simultaneous display devices can either drive these display devices in TwinView, or as separate X screens. When the '--separate-x-screens' option is specified, each GPU on which an X screen is currently configured will be updated to have two X screens configured. The '--no-separate-x-screens' option will remove the second configured X screen on each GPU. Please see the NVIDIA README description of "Separate X Screens on One GPU" for further details.

Enable or disable the "TwinViewXineramaInfoOrder" X configuration option.
TWINVIEW-XINERAMA-INFO-ORDER
is a comma-separated list of display device names that describe the order in which TwinViewXineramaInfo should be reported. E.g., "CRT, DFP, TV".

--ubb, --no-ubb

Enable or disable the "UBB" X configuration option.

--use-edid, --no-use-edid

Enable or disable use of the EDID (Extended Display Identification Data) from your display device(s). The EDID will be used for driver operations such as building lists of available modes, determining valid frequency ranges, and computing the DPI (Dots Per Inch). This option defaults to TRUE (the NVIDIA X driver will use the EDID, when available). It is NOT recommended that you use this option to globally disable use of the EDID; instead, use '--no-use-edid-freqs' or '--no-use-edid-dpi' to disable specific uses of the EDID.

--use-edid-dpi, --no-use-edid-dpi

Enable or disable use of the physical size information in the display device's EDID, if any, to compute the DPI (Dots Per Inch) of the X screen. This option defaults to TRUE (the NVIDIA X driver uses the EDID's physical size, when available, to compute the DPI).

--use-edid-freqs, --no-use-edid-freqs

Enable or disable use of the HorizSync and VertRefresh ranges given in a display device's EDID, if any. EDID provided range information will override the HorizSync and VertRefresh ranges specified in the Monitor section. This option defaults to TRUE (the NVIDIA X driver will use frequency information from the EDID, when available).

--use-int10-module, --no-use-int10-module

Enable use of the X Int10 module to soft-boot all secondary cards, rather than POSTing the cards through the NVIDIA kernel module.

--use-display-device=DISPLAY-DEVICE, --no-use-display-device

Force the X driver to use the display device specified.

--use-events, --no-use-events

Enable or disable "UseEvents" X configuration option. Setting this option will enable the X driver to use the system events in some cases when it is waiting for the hardware. With this option X driver sets an event handler and waits for the hardware through the poll() system call. This option defaults to FALSE.

--virtual=WIDTHxHEIGHT, --no-virtual

Specify the virtual screen resolution.

--x-prefix=X-PREFIX

The X installation prefix; the default is /usr/X11R6/. Only under rare circumstances should this option be needed.

--xinerama, --no-xinerama

Enable or disable Xinerama.

--xvmc-uses-textures, --no-xvmc-uses-textures

Forces XvMC to use the 3D engine for XvMCPutSurface requests rather than the video overlay.

EXAMPLES

nvidia-xconfig

Reads an existing X config file and adapts it to use the NVIDIA driver.
If no X config file can be found, a new one is created at /etc/X11/XF86Config with default settings.

nvidia-xconfig --post-tree --twinview

Reads the existing X configuration file, adds the TwinView option, and then prints the resulting config file to standard out in tree form.
The configuration file is not modified.

nvidia-xconfig --enable-all-gpus

Examines the system and configures an X screen for each display device it finds.

nvidia-xconfig --mode=1600x1200

Adds a 1600x1200 mode to an existing X configuration.

nvidia-xconfig --only-one-x-screen --sli=Auto

Configures the X server to have just one X screen that will use SLI when available.